26o FORESTRY IN AUSTRIA-HUNGARY. 



The number of persons employed in forest culture in Bohemia, and having 

 enjoyed a professional education, is the following : 



Managing foresters 459 



Officers in forest bureaus 5^9 



Rangers 1,954 



Assistants 950 



Total 3,892 



There are besides 5,915 forest-guards, making the whole force of employes 

 in that branch 9,807, or one to every 150 hectares, or 375 acres, of forest land. 



METHOD OF FOREST PLANTING AND CULTURE. 



Forest culture and management in Bohemia has reached a high degree of 

 perfection. The whole forest economy is based upon systematic calculations, 

 which, in the large domains, are generally intrusted to a separate bureau. The , 

 forests are mapped and classified according to age, character, and amount of 

 stumpage, and divided into "cuts" or "turns" for the purpose of felling. 

 The annual extent of felling is fixed upon the basis of a calculation, by which 

 the annual increase of timber and the area of forest reaching its maturity is 

 ascertained. This is done usually for a period of ten years, and then revised 

 and corrected according to experience. 



The amount annually maturing is called the main produce, and is cut either 

 by clearing or gradual felling. Upon the method of cutting depends the 

 culture or propagation of forests. 



1. Natural renewal or propagation. — After clearing, the forest is renewed 

 by seeding or planting. Where the gradual felling* obtains, the forest renews 

 itself by self-seeding, which is supported by the scattered felling, until finally 

 the young forest emerges completely from the shadow of the old growth, which 

 disappears. The method of gradual felling obtains in mountainous districts, 

 where the beech and the f^r are prevalent, which thrive best in the shadow of 

 parental trees. 



This method offers the great advantage of saving almost the whole expense 

 connected with the artificial planting of forests. At the same time the ground is 

 never deprived of shade, which preserves its productive force much better than 

 the system of clearing. From these considerations many foresters advocate 

 the method of gradual felling as the only rational one, rejecting the method 

 of clearing altogether. A young forest always thrives much better if protected 

 by a high growth at least on one side; and it is found expedient, where the 

 system of clearing prevails, to clear the outskirts of the forest in long, narrow 

 strips, so as to secure to the young growth some protection against heat and 

 wind. 



2. Forest seeding, in connection with clearing, is done either broadcast or 

 in drills, or in the so-called ' ' dishes. ' ' Broadcast sowing requires the greatest 

 amount of seed, sowing in dishes the smallest amount. 



This method is not expensive, because tree-seed, especially of spruce, is 

 cheap. The quantity of seed required to a hectare is from 6 to 10 kilograms. 



